~ firearms and fermentation

Legally Purchased Firearms Should Not Be A Talking Point!

As you probably already knew, the person who shot three people on live television purchased the firearm legally and passed a background check to get the firearm. Recently several legislators have used the incident to try to push their agenda, most notably Virginia Senator Tim Kaine. Kaine points to the tragedy as a reason to make all transfers happen at a FFL and to hold sellers criminally liable if a firearm they sold was used to commit a crime. This liability would even extend to FFLs. So if you were a FFL why would you ever transfer for an individual if liability were to be assigned to the transfer. It’s a backhanded means to stop firearm sales and what is ironic about it is the talking point is a legal sale with a NICS background check.

From Kaine’s press release:“As recent tragedies in Virginia and across the country have shown, the gun laws in our country have done little to stem senseless gun violence,” said Kaine. “These numbing incidents in urban, rural and suburban communities are made worse by the lack of accountability in those instances where the tragedy might have been prevented. That’s why I’m proud to introduce the Responsible Transfer of Firearms Act to help bring some measure of accountability for the violence that continues to plague our communities. It would hold a seller or transferor of firearms criminally liable should they fail to demonstrate they took reasonable steps to prevent a weapon from falling into prohibited hands. Why should someone be able to casually place an illegal firearm in the hands of a felon or other prohibited person?”

Virginia Senator Tim Kaine is yet another politician who doesn’t get it. His legislation would change nothing about what happened in Virginia to the reporters. The firearm was purchased legally and with a background check. What he needs to figure out is how to identify these individuals before they can cause harm. I’m guessing he doesn’t have a legislative answer for that dilemma and he feels the need to do something even if it is wrong and ignorant. Perhaps he should have remembered the old saying, better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.